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April 5, 2011

G4: Cleveland 3, Red Sox 1

Tomlin (7-3-1-3-3, 91) won the Battle of the Joshes. Beckett (5-5-3-4-4, 106) struggled the second time through the Cleveland order; he threw a total of 82 pitches in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, and allowed eight base runners.

The Sox bullpen, however, was superb. Matt Albers struck out the side in the sixth (with a one-out walk). Bobby Jenks allowed struck out the side in the seventh (but had a two-out walk). Daniel Bard pitched a perfect eighth, with two strikeouts.

Boston took an early lead after two were out in the second. David Ortiz walked, J.D. Drew doubled to right, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled to right. Drew was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.

The Red Sox did not get another runner past first base until they were down to their last out in the ninth. Pedroia singled with one down (he had the Sox's other two hits) and Adrian Gonzalez flied to left. Yook walked. With Ortiz at the plate, Pedroia took third, but Flo lined out to left to end the game, dropping the Sox to 0-4.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford were a combined 0-for-8 at the top of the order, and did not reach base.

Tomlin is a 26-year-old right-hander who debuted last year, starting 12 games and finishing with a 4.56 ERA. He faced the Red Sox on August 5, pitching seven innings and giving up a grand slam to Adrian Beltre.

Beckett has made 143 starts for the Red Sox and Jason Varitek -- the only non-pitcher to not play in the Texas series -- has caught 111 of them. Beckett's Boston ERA with Tek behind the plate is 3.95; in the 32 non-Tek games, it's 5.53.

On Crawford batting second:"In the big picture, I don't think it matters but I just thought he was trying to do too much when he was batting third. Maybe get him and Ellsbury back-to-back and get them on base and have them cause some havoc."

On why Jason Varitek isn't in tonight's lineup:"I'd like Tek to catch tomorrow or next day. ... I'd really like to get Salty going here. He was so overanxious, so swinging at everything. ... I said [to him] settle down. It's a long year..."

On whether Salty is thinking too much about the shitty pitching:"Any good catcher takes it very personal. I've seen a couple in my day who don't have a problem with it and it's usually not on a good team."

On the cold temps (in the 30s) tonight:"I'm going to start (layering) in 10 minutes and once it's on, it's on. That means urinating is done for the night."

Game's about to start and I'm going to be listening to the radio like some 20th century hobo. This is a new millennium dammit! I want this shit jacked right into my cerebral cortex. grrr. guess I'll call Time Warner tomorrow.

I'm still trying to figure out what I'm watching. We tried to save a few bucks by going with mlb.tv instead of EI on the cable, but I'm not sure it's the best plan. Streaming to the TV has some glitches.

So I'm watching the free preview of EI (on mute since it's spidervision). I've got the game on the computer and am trying to synch up the computer audio with the TV video. It's all too much work.

I didn't hear "enjoy the game" either. And I had it on long before the first pitch. Weird.

My daughter was talking to me before the game and said, "Enjoy the game." Does that count? I told her she sounded like Don Orsillo. (This being the Sox fan daughter. The other wouldn't know Orsillo from Arsenio.)

So is there anyway to make the Bingo card usable on the computer? I tried to copy and paste it to a word doc so I could simply make an X over the boxes instead of using a paper copy and pennies or something. But I can't type over the image after copying it. Any suggestions?

When I was a kid, I assumed John 3:16 must be some scripture that sounded baseball-y, like smoting with a big stick or some such. I didn't realize it was just a bible thumper until Allan told me that... many years later.

As opposed to the OCD guy in my husband's office. Not only does he move everything to his trash on the computer. He then empties his trash multiple times a day. They have had to make numerous searches on the backups.

My boss is an Indians fan. Here was our text exchange yesterday:Him: 0 and 3. 135 million just doesn't buy what it used to. Fortunately the Indians are up next.Me: Yeah, yeah. i guess you have to trash talk now before the series, huh?Him: Before a series in the only time Indian fans can trash talk.Me: Ha. Such a sad life.Him: Yes, but everyone expects us to lose and our salary is one of the bottom 5. It is the Red Sox fans who are sad. Indian fans are just realistic.Me: Okay, whatever helps you sleep at night.

Thanks, Benjamin!! I somehow knew you would figure this out. I was thinking, "Where is Benjamin? He's always got the techie answer to these things." I assume if I save the doc, I can just keep reusing it.

I found the French to be exactly the opposite. If I didn't pronounce the words the way they liked, they just ignored what I said. Or answered in English to show that they knew my language better than I knew theirs (which was true, but I was TRYING.)

In Iceland, even when you say 'hello' or 'thank you,' Icelanders stare at you--not out of rudeness exactly, but because the words we think we are saying are so badly pronounced that even in formula situations, Icelanders are genuinely baffled. So I've been told anyway.

I assumed you were talking about France. I know that's what people say, but I've never experienced it. Paris is less friendly than out in the country (although not unfriendly, IMO), but I still never found a problem, over several trips. And my French sucks!

Or answered in English to show that they knew my language better than I knew theirs

Are you sure they weren't answering in English to make it easier on both of you? That happens to me everywhere. I start out in the native language, then out of courtesy, the other person switches to English. In these cases, it's not an insult - they're trying to help.

It's always possible I misread their reaction, but I am generally pretty good at reading attitude from tone of voice and facial expression. These people looked annoyed that I was butchering their language. And I was. But the Italians never had that attitude---they always seemed tickled that someone was at least trying to speak their language.

And my French was better than my Italian since I had taken French for 6 years. I took a crash one week course in Italian before going on that trip. Now French pronunciation is tougher than Italian, but nevertheless my vocabulary was much larger in French and I knew tenses other than present tense.

Arnold used to do play by play for the Bruins home games. He got squeezed out of the day time lineup at WEEI - used to be the Dale and Holly show, now it is the M & M boys - Mutt and Merloni, followed by the big Show with Holly - they put him on the Sox games when OB is busy with ESPN stuff.